Variable pathway



Nov. 1, 1927. 1,647,474

F. W. SEYMOUR VAR-IABLE PATHWAY Filed Oct. 25. 1925 Timrl.

L%%/ INVENTOR Lav-a ya Patented Nov. 1, 1927.

PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK W. SEYMOUR, OF FLUSHING, NEW YORK.

VARIABLE PATHWAY.

Application filed October 25, 1923.

This invention relates to means for transmission, reception, and controlof electrical impulses or activities or other forms of wave motions andhas particular reference to means constituting what I purposelydesignate as pathways, along or across which the impulses may beconveyed, transmitted, or regulated, and distinguished from the morerestricted term circuits as applied to metallic or other analogousconductors.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a pathway system forelectrical impulses which involves the use of a flexible,

relatively thin, pliable body in the nature of insulation and capable ofbeing made to assume various forms or with the different parts thereofin differently related positions, and for the deposition on the surfaceof said body, or otherwise extended along the same, of a line or stripof metallic or other suitable material, also of thin and pliablephysical nature so that it may partake of the same variation in form orposition as the body upon which it is placed or formed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a system of pathways madevariable for the control of electrical impulses or the like, the sameembodying one or more relatively fiat pliable bodies having formed,preferably by a galvanic deposit, thereon any suitable design, size, orconstruction of metallic elements adapted for various purposes accordingto the specific design or arrangement of the mechanism, so that one partof the structure which in normal position may lie in the same plane asanother part, may, when the structure is distorted or manipulated, bebrought into superimposed position in relation to the other part, oroccupy either a plane parallel thereto .or a plane at a different anglethereto, or may assume any form or desired position relative to saidother part.

In the radio reception and transmission of recent times it is thepractice of operators to use coils and masses of metal alone or incombination to control the messages and music broadcasted and received,and many of these instruments thus formed are cumbersome and bulky andotherwise poorly designed, all of which conditions depend largely uponcontrol of the inductance or capacity and combinations of the inductanceand capacities. In order to afford an improved method of obtaining andvarying Serial No. 670,712.

these units and their combinations this invention offers new and usefulideas of means made effective by the application of galvanic action todeposit metal upon a pliable insulating material, movement of which ma--terial moves the metal parts and varies the units.

Another object of the invention is to provide pathways made up ofvariable resistance, capacity, inductance and impedance by means ofdepositing thin layers of metal, such as copper or silver by galvanicaction upon a thin sheet of pliable material such as gutta percha, thushaving the metal take the form of the pliable material. As the guttapercha sheets are pliable and easily bendable the metal thereupon willbe bent or moved with the sheet. As the metal when deposited in thinlines concentrically forms a coil, so also if deposited in masses or inparallel lines comparatively broad, parts of a condenser will be formed.Now by bending a coil the field about it is distorted and made variable;likewise with the condenser when the masses are brought nearer to eachother the capacity is changed and so with all parts in combination.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists inthe arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described andclaimed and while the invention is not restricted to the exact detailsof construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose ofillustrating a practical embodiment thereofreference is had to theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame parts in the several views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan viewof one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same in partial or superimposed position,the bro-ken lines indicating a variation in shape of one half of thecarrier or body.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a further variation of the device.

Fig. 4 is an end view of the mechanism of Fig. 3 as rolled into a loosespiral or spiral cylinder.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, 10 indicates a sheet ofpliable material such as gutta percha, waxed paper, or other analogousmaterial commonly regarded as insulation. This body is shown as beingcomposed of two substantially equal rectangular parts connected by arelatively narrow neck portion 11, whereby one part may be folded orbent so as to be superimposed upon or above the other as in Fig. 2 oreither part may be given a movement in its own plane in a directionapproximately parallel to the other part for the variation of the effectof the electrical impulse being manipulated. Also since the body ispliable either part may be distorted into curved, spiral, or cylindricalform suggested in broken lines in Fig. 2, for the purpose ofvariations-of prac tical effect. It is obvious that various mechanicalmeans may be provided for mounting, supporting, and manipulating theseflexible bodies, but for the purpose of this specification it is deemedunnecessary to show such mechanism.

Each of the parts of the body 10 is provided with a slender metallicmember 12 indicated as a spiral line of copper deposited thereon bygalvanic action. In accordance with the usual practice in the galvanodeposit of metals on pliable bodies or bodies of a non-conductiveproperty, 1 form a pattern on the flexible sheet or support by any wellknown means such as the placing thereon of lead, graphite, solution ofcopper, or any other material of a conductive property which constitutesthe base or cathode during the galvanic action while in the galvanicbath. It is impossible by any other means to deposit by the galvanoprocess a conductive metal of either high or low or any otherresistivity upon an insulating or I1011-CO11 ductive material. In thisfigure the two coils 12 are indicated as of right and left turn and sodesigned that one may be superimposed directly upon the other or inclose proximity to each other when one body is folded or bent over theother. The outer ends of the coils may be connected in any suitablemanner to other parts of a circuit system in a well known manner, andthe inner ends of the coils may be connected by a line of similardeposit 13, or otherwise, ex tending along the opposite side of thebody. These deposits in Fig. 2 are exaggerated in thickness but will beunderstood in practice as being of almost negligible thickness. In Fig.3 coils 12 are shown, and as a variation from the illustration in thefirst figure they are shown as of the same character and connected onthe same side through a connector 13. It will be appreciated that thecapacity and inductance of a circuit connected through the pathwaysillustrated herein may be varied in many ways, to efiect the increase ordecrease thereof according to the nearness or relative positions of theparts of the pathway elements.

At 14 I indicate a deposit element which may be thought of as acondenser having spaced and substantially parallel correspond ing arms15 and 16, the capacity or inductance of the various parts of which maybe varied by the flexing of the body upon which these features areplaced or deposited or by the superimposition of the condenser over orupon one or the other or both of the coil features of the sameembodiment. One part of the condenser is shown connected through a line17 to one of the coils, such line being on the opposite side of thebody.

It will be understood that the illustrations are but a few of the manyvariations or forms of the generic idea hereinafter claimed as new. Forinstance, the deposit elements may be in the nature of disks or films ofsheet metal or they may partake of many other specific designs accordingto the nature of the mechanism or use to which they may be put. Asindicated for example at 12 in Fig. 3 the formation of the pathway bygalvanic deposit renders it feasible and practicable for the crosssection or carrying capacity of the metal part to be varied readilyduring the construction, a feature that could not be performed by theuse of ordinary conducting wires or the like. This formation at 12 maybe regarded, for claiming purposes, as a field piece. The nature ofgalvanic deposition renders the metals of a high degree of purity andmakes it feasible for the same to be more readily formed or deposited inlines or layers of different sectional areas or shapes, and composed ofmetals such as nickel, copper, silver, or gold, either singly orcombined in layers or sections.

I claim:

1. In combination, a sheet of pliable insulating material, a deposit bygalvanic ac tion of metal in concentric convolutions on said sheetforming an inductance, a similar deposit of metal in strips formingcondenser, and also on said sheet, and a similar deposit of metal onsaid sheet forming a field piece, all three deposits constituting acorrelated flexible and therefore variable electrical pathway.

2. A construction as set forth in claim 1 in which the field piecedeposit is interposed between the inductance and the condenser and atthe same side of the flexible sheet of insulation.

8. In combination, a body of pliable insulating material having formedthereon. by galvanic deposit a pathway comprising three distinct butcorrelated. masses of metal, one of which is a spiral constituting aninductance, another is arranged in strips spaced relatively to oneanother and forming condenser, while the third is a field piece composedof masses or formations of metal of different design or shape from thosefirst mentioned, the whole constituting an electric pathway whosefunction is variable due to the flexibility of the body of insulationand the character of the deposit thereon.

a. A method of constructing electrical apparatus which consists inmarking out circuitous paths upon a supporting surface, placing aconductive material over the paths and electroplating the conductivematerial with a metal having low resistance to radio frequency currents.

The method of manufacturing variable electrical apparatus which consistsin suitably preparing a pliable insulating body of sheet material,subjecting said. body to a galvanic bath, and depositing on said body aslender electrical pathway whose electrical units are rendered variablebecause of the pliability of the insulating body.

6. The method of manufacturing variable electrical apparatus whichconsists in suitably preparing a pliable body of sheet insulatingmaterial, subjecting said body to a galvanic bath, depositing on saidbody a slender variable electrical pathway as a result of thepreparation aforesaid and the action of the galvanic bath, and removingthe body of sheet material thus formed from said bath.

7. The method of manufacturing variable electrical apparatus whichcomprises the subjecting of a pliable body having parts relativelymovable to one another into a galvanic bath, forming on said body of anelectrical pathway as a result of galvanic action while in said bath,said pathway having portions of variable cross sectional dimensions, andremoving the pliable body from the bath.

8. A spiral variable electrical conductor comprising, in combination, apliable body of insulating material, and an electrical pathway formedspirally on said body by galvanic action, the electrical units of thespiral pathway being variable as a result of the pliability of saidbody.

9. A construction as set forth in claim 12 in which different portionsof the spiral pathway are of different cross sectional diinension forthe purpose of increasing the variability of the device as an electricalapparatus.

10. The herein described electrical device comprising a support ofnon-conductive material and a galvanic deposit on the surface of saidsupport of a body of conductive material, difl'ereut portions of whichdeposited body are of different cross sectional areas whereby variationsin inductance and capacity of the body are obtainable at differentpoints of the body.

11. The herein described method of manu facturing an electricalapparatus which consists in suitably preparing a supporting body ofinsulating material, subjecting said body to a galvanic bath, depositingon said body an electrical pathway of conductive mate-- rial, and socontrolling the depositing action that said pathway will be ofdifi'erent cross sectional areas at certain points than it is at others.

12. The herein described method of manu facturing an electricalapparatus which consists in suitably preparing a supporting body ofinsulating material, subjecting said body to a galvanic bath, depositingon said body an electrical pathway of conductive mate rial, andcontrolling the depositing action so that the pathway will be wider atsome points than at others.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

FREDERICK W. SEYMOUR.

